Residential care

There may be a time when you find you can no longer manage to look after yourself at home. This might happen:

  • gradually after an illness or accident
  • more suddenly, if you have had a stay in hospital
  • when you have been living at home with support from your family and/or social care services and this is now becoming too difficult.

Getting help from us

There is a range of care and support available from Adult Social Services to help you remain in your own home, such as adaptations and care services delivered to your home, including, in some circumstances, a live in carer. If remaining in your own home is not appropriate, you may want to consider other housing alternatives - for example, Extra Care Housing.

To qualify for any help from us, we will need to carry out an assessment of your care needs. This assessment will help decide if you would benefit from moving into a care home. You are entitled to an assessment regardless of any savings you may have and whether you think you can afford to pay.

Choosing a home

Once you have made the decision to move into a care home you need to begin the process of choosing the right one for you. There are several different types of care home, to meet a variety of different needs.

Adult Social Services can help you choose a care home and, after a financial assessment, may contribute towards the cost of your stay in the care home. If the council is helping with your fees you can always stay in a care home of your choice, provided that:

  • the home is registered and your choice is suitable for your care needs
  • there is a place available
  • the council can agree a contract with the care home to make sure you receive the support you need, and
  • the care home does not charge more than the council would usually expect to pay for residential accommodation which is suitable for your assessed needs.

To offer you a real choice, Barnet Council and NHS Barnet have standard contracts with a range of independent and voluntary sector homes including homes that meet both cultural and religious needs. However, you do not have to move to one of these homes, for example, if you wish to move to a home in a different part of the country to be near to relatives.

Mental capacity

If you lack the mental capacity to decide about moving into a care home, and you have no family or friends to decide on your behalf, we will appoint an independent mental capacity advocate (IMCA). This person’s job is to speak on your behalf and represent your best interests when any decisions need to be made, in line with the Mental Capacity Act 2005.

If you have appointed a Lasting Power of Attorney in relation to health and welfare decisions, this person must also be consulted.

Checklist when choosing a care home

If possible you should visit care homes that you are considering to make sure they meet your current and possible future needs. You should not be asked to make an appointment but visit unannounced.You might like to have a checklist with you of points that are important to you in case you forget to ask something.

Who pays for your care?

This will depend on many factors including the type of care you receive, the seriousness of your illness or disability and your financial situation. See Paying for a care home for more information.

Arranging your move to a care home

If you are arranging your own care home accommodation, it is worth thinking carefully about how long you will be able to afford to stay in the home of your choice before deciding to live there. We advise that you contact Adult Social Services and request an assessment of your needs before you make a final decision about entering a home so that these issues can be discussed. An assessment of your needs is free, regardless of your financial situation. We will also give you information on homes which meet your care needs, regardless of whether you qualify for financial assistance.

Making your own arrangements

If you are in a financial position to do so you can make your own arrangements to move into the home of your choice. The Care Quality Commission can give you information on homes in your preferred area.

If you later find that you can no longer afford the fees of a care home which you arranged for yourself, we may be able to help you continue your stay there by contributing to the cost of the care home charges.

We will assist you if:

  • you qualify for support following an assessment of your needs
  • the home where you are a resident is registered, suitable for your needs, and prepared to enter into a contract with the council, and
  • the care home does not charge more than we would usually expect to pay for residential accomodation which is suitable to your assessed needs.

If the care homes charges more than we would usually expect to pay, we will only contribute to the cost of your care at that particular home in certain circumstances. See Choosing a more expensive home.

Making arrangements with our help

If you are assessed as needing residential care, we will always find and arrange a care home for you if you are ordinarily a resident in the London Borough of Barnet and you would qualify for financial assistance.

Even if you would not qualify for financial assistance, the we may arrange a care home for you. But you will then have to pay the council the cost of your care home fees. This will be the case, for example, if you have enough money to cover your own care home fees, but you are unable to make financial arrangements or decisions for yourself and you have no one else to assist you.

If you would like us to help you to make arrangements to move into a care home, please contact Adult Social Services.

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Reviewing your place in a care home

If we helped place you in a care home, your social worker or care manager will keep in touch for the first four weeks to ensure you are being cared for in a satisfactory way. A review of your situation will be carried out after four weeks to check with you, your family and friends, and the home’s staff that the home is suitable for you.

If you are happy with the care home, your placement becomes permanent. We will then review your placement once a year unless you, your family or the home feel that your needs have changed. In this case an earlier review can be arranged.

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Complaints

Once you have settled into your care home, if you have problems, it is best to talk with the staff concerned and try to get the problem sorted out straight away.

Each care home has a complaints procedure and if you are not satisfied following your initial discussions you should ask for that procedure to be followed and notify the Care Quality Commission of your concerns.

Where we are helping to pay the costs of the placement you should also contact Adult Social Services.

If your complaint is about abuse or ill treatment, please speak directly to the manager of the care home. You can also speak to the Care Quality Commission or Adult Social Services.

Useful Publications

If you would like to receive a copy if this booklet in your preferred format, please contact the Information Officer for Adult Social Services:

For more information

If you would like more information about paying for care in a care home, you can contact the Financial Assessment Team:

Adult Social Services home page

Safeguarding Adults

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email icon Email this pageLast modified by: Dawn Rowe on 18/06/2009


Contact

Address
North London Business Park (NLBP)
Oakleigh Road South
London
N11 1NP
Phone Number
020 8359 2000
Text Number (SMS)
07781 473279
Fax Number
020 8359 4156
Typetalk
18001 020 8359 2040
Email
adultsocialservices@barnet.gov.uk